These Books are MADE OF PEOPLE!!

Much like Soylent Green - Books are made of people.

Well, no. They're actually made of paper and ink... but they're FULL of people and characters. And that, in my opinion, can really make or break a book.

Most of these people are complete works of fiction. They come from the brain of the person writing the book and they give them their own lives, personalities, and purpose. And that's pretty cool.

So - what about when we write a story and BASE the people in our story - fictional people - on people we know in real life?  It makes the writing easier and does half of the work for us. We now have somewhat of a background for the character, and some basic traits and habits already in place for us to work with. But is that a good idea? I haven't really decided yet.

I once wrote a short story - okay, it was 72 pages when I abandoned it - where I used the actual names, physical descriptions, and overall ACTUAL real person as the character in the story. Bruce was Bruce. Angie was Angie. And so on... These characters and their struggles were all fictional - but they matched up to their real world counterparts quite well. And - I don't think any of the friends I actually used in the story were ever in a life or death situation following a global pandemic and the rise of feral mutants.... Hmm... I should check on that.



Point is - I'm now working on my new thing. For now at least - until I get bored and something shiny comes along - looking at you, Deer Season!! But - until then, I'm scratching the surface of this idea. To make it a more interesting and REAL place, I've given my characters life based, again, on the lives of the people I know. They're fun people and I love them all dearly.

That being said - the characters are WAY not the same as the real people. For one thing my friend, P, is no longer a woman. She's now Paul... and he's the main character's gay neighbor. P's husband, R, is now Roger. a 6'3"black man... Again NOTHING like the real person. But it still gives me a basis for writing these new people into life. C and J are similar in appearance and attitude to their fictional counterparts, but the newly created fictional people I've come up with are very much not the same people as the two who come over and hang out with us at my house...

Point is - no real point, actually. Just rambling here... again. I think it's a good idea so long as the people on whom your characters are based know, going in, that these people are NOT the same. The things they say and do are not some weird version of them. If someone made a character based on me who, in the course of the story, is a total dick - I'd like to think that said writer does not actually think I'm a dick, but rather used my basic structure on which to build a dick.... and that now sounds WAY dirtier. Sorry!

In conclusion - if you recognize yourself as a character in my story - just know that it is not actually you.

EAT MORE SOYLENT!!!!